ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - The latest from the first day of Big 12 football media days Monday at AT&T Stadium. (all times local):
12:30 p.m.
New Kansas coach Les Miles says top running back Pooka Williams has been reinstated to the team, seven months after he was arrested and charged with domestic battery in a case involving an 18-year-old woman.
Williams later reached a domestic violence diversion agreement with the local district attorney’s office.
Miles says Williams, who will be suspended for the season opener Aug. 31 against Indiana State, went through a legal investigation and code of conduct proceedings with the university.
Williams ran for 1,125 yards and seven touchdowns as a freshman last season. Miles was the head coach at Oklahoma State from 2001-04 before going to LSU, where he won a national championship.
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9:45 a.m.
The Big 12 commissioner says there is no discussion of expansion at any level in the smallest Power Five conference.
“I don’t expect that to be an active topic on anybody’s agenda in the conference in the foreseeable future,” Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said, responding to a question about alignment at the start of Big 12 football media days.
Bowlsby said Monday that the league likes the 10 teams that it has, along with the full round-robin schedules that allows. There are also increasing record revenues, with the league distributing about $38.8 million to each school during the last academic year.
Bowlsby said the Big 12 also had a tremendous year competitively, with four national championships throughout the league.
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9 a.m.
The Big 12 has a grand stage as it opens football media days at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Commissioner Bob Bowlsby and five coaches will be on the raised podium set up near midfield under the huge video board that hangs over the home field of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. It is also where the Big 12 will play its championship game in December.
After Bowlsby delivers his annual address, the coaches will take their turns. New Kansas coach Les Miles will be first, followed by TCU’s Gary Patterson, Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy, new Texas Tech coach Matt Wells and Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley. The coaches and select players from their teams will be available in the afternoon.
The other five teams will be featured Tuesday.
This is the first time the league is holding its media days inside the giant stadium. The festivities the last two years were held at The Star in Frisco, the practice facility for the Cowboys.
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2 a.m.
Oklahoma is again favored in the Big 12 after winning the last four conference titles. Kansas is expected to still be on the other end of the standings, even with a new coach that has a national title to his credit.
New Jayhawks coach Les Miles, the 65-year-old former Oklahoma State coach who later won a national championship at LSU, will be the first coach to take the podium at Big 12 football media days Monday. That will be after Commissioner Bob Bowlsby kicks off the two-day talkfest with his annual address.
Players and coaches from Oklahoma and Kansas will take part Monday, along with Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas Tech. The second day, Tuesday, will feature Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas State, Texas and West Virginia - and the only two quarterbacks scheduled to appear this week.
The Big 12 is holding its media days for the first time at the home stadium of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, where the league plays its championship game.
The 65-year-old Miles, after more than 2 ½ seasons out of coaching, is one of four new Big 12 coaches. The others are Texas Tech’s Matt Wells, West Virginia’s Neal Brown and Kansas State’s Chris Klieman, who won four FCS national titles the past five years as head coach at North Dakota State.
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